BARNES, RUSSIA, AND THE PROGRESSIVE

...It is a peculiar fact—isn't it?—that we can denounce and expose unjust activities of our own country, and not be denounced as"un-American...

...i A LL this brings to mind another point worth men-tioning here...

...Then, France, while going through the motions of joining an international organization, placed her reliance on a network of military alliances, a ring of satellite states, and the Maginot Line—and not only bought no actual security for herself but hastened the tragic process which exploded in World War II...

...There you complain that while we have indeed attacked the "weaknesses and crimes of the Roosevelt-Churchill policies," our sin is that in criticizing Russia, "you rarely recall such criticisms to the minds of your readers...

...This is a wholesome contrast to the technique of many other defenders of the Soviet Union whose single weapon—mud—splatters professional red-baiters and honest critics with complete indifference...

...In the field of foreign affairs, however, I feel that we have not only the right but the duty to speak up clearly when we feel that our Ally is poised to make a serious mistake...

...Similarly, today Russia politely acquiesces in the charter of the United Nations, but realistically she is counting on her domination of the Balkans, Central Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, and huge, slices of Asia to ring herself against the world—as France thought she had—and buy peace without getting at any of the basic causes of war...

...But let The Progressive similarly call the Soviet Union to account, and at once we become stooges for Goebbels, violent red-baiters, and paid pawns of Hearst and Hitler...

...Having counted the terrible cost the world has paid in slaughter and slavery as a result of Britain's centuries of imperialism, shouldn't we be all the more alert and aggressive to prevent Russia from embarking on the same treacherous course...

...Perhaps we shalj benefit from her criticism...

...Certainly during the past 5 years...

...The Progressive applauded...

...I doubt if there has ever been such drivel palmed off as serious opinion in our time...

...NOR has The Progressive been silent or bashful about the sins of our own country...

...In fact, Mr...

...The fact that 3 years ago and again today we can commend the Soviet position in this particular ought to be considered alongside the fact that during the intervening period when the Kremlin switched and we didn't, we were the target of the most vitriolic attack on the part of Soviet sympathizers—and all for standin- by a position to which the U.S.S.R...

...Barnes, is a slashing indictment of Mr...

...Barnes, is to fight the development and extension of Russian imperialism even while I'm opposing the restoration of Hong Kong and Burma and Malaya to the British...

...Roosevelt and Churchill in their demand for Unconditional Surrender...

...For myself, I think the alarmists are all wrong, that we can and shall work with Soviet Russia in international affairs—not on a basis of hiding disputes and faking agreements, but on a basis of slugging it out forthrightly on the issues, with the United States of America pressing our philosophy of democracy and freedom at least as aggressively as the Russians advance their own...

...You use the same device, Mr...

...YOUR contention that The Progressive has implied that Great Britain and the United States are lily-white while Russia alone is guilty of misdeeds in world affairs is almost too preposterous to require answering...

...You'll remember that several years ago the smear campaign against William Henry Chamberlin got so violent in the Forum that you—heartily disagreeing with Chamberlin as you did—felt impelled to write us a warm defense of Chamberlin...

...Of course she has...

...In more recents months the Soviet policy has shifted again...

...Indeed, yours is one of the few letters we have had criticizing our attitude toward Russia which has not sought to smear us as "Fascist," or "Hitler-lover," or "reactionary," ©r "Hearstling," or all these together, simply because we have demurred at certain Soviet policies...

...I feel too strongly that Russia is making the same mistakes that France did after World War I to remain silent...

...I know that criticism of Soviet policies, however constructive, brings out inevitably these days the humbug that one is agitating for war with Russia...

...If our relationship with Russia is not strong enough to permit of frank discussion and a genuine give-and-take, as Lamont, the Herald-Tribune, the fellow-travelers, and the Commies in this country think—then we ought to know about that right now...

...War will come only if we fail to thrash out these differences around the conference table, on the platform, and in the press arid reach agreements based on the give-and-take of firm but friendly negotiations...

...Barnes, are quick to recognize this yourself, for in the very next paragraph you shift your position...

...Let's throw all the arguments and' all the evidence on the table, and let the debate be on the issues, without personalities or the impugning of motives...

...Except for the first paragraph, where you use the words "extreme Russophobia" as a quotation from an unidentified critic, there is no name-calling, or impugning of motives...

...Two enslavements will no more make for freedom than two wrongs make a right...

...Barnes, even though I haven't the time to work up a recapitulation, I'd almost wager the price of a round trip to Moscow that The Progressive during the 5 years of our stewardship has devoted more acres of paper exposing foreign policies of the United States and Britain than those of the U.S.S.R...

...Quite the reverse is true...

...has now returned...

...The Progressive attacked this position...

...Perhaps the best example of what I am driving at can be found in our attitude toward defeated Germany...

...neighbors in Latin America...

...In just about every instance I can think of, our denunciation has followed a shift for the worst on the part of the Kremlin...

...Our critical energies have been expended perhaps more on Russia than on Britain during recent months because we have wanted to prevent the Soviets from getting into a position from which we are trying to dislodge the British...

...When Russia dared to take the lead in calling for general disarmament as the path to peace, Progressives were quick to recognize the soundness of such a course, but today it is Russia which sets the pace for peacetime rearmament...

...You concede—and here you'll catch hell from the totalitarian sympathizers with the U.S.S.R...

...who brook no criticism whatsoever—that "it is perfectly correct" for us to "tell the full truth about the misdeeds of Russia" but we "must not concentrate on the offenses of Russia, thereby implying that the other members of the Big 3 are 'lily white' and without guile...

...JUST a word in conclusion...

...Three years ago Marshal Stalin dared to buck the Messrs...

...It is not difficult to understand the nature of your complaint...

...IWANT The Progressive to do everything in its power to prevent a repetition of the tragic course we followed from 1919 to 1939, even when that means calling Russia to account for what I regard as a dangerous dallying with imperialism...

...When Russia exposed the territorial grabs of the victorious Allies after World War I and called for an end to imperialism, Progressives found a kindred companion in the Kremlin, but today it is Russia whose territorial demands and insistence on ports and passages confound the peacemakers...

...He announced in a May Day order that Russia was determined to destroy Nazism, but was equally determined to lend a helping hand to the non-Nazi elements to build a new and democratic Germany...

...And if for the moment I can make no headway against British Imperialism, I'm not for a, second going to let up in my fight to prevent the expansion of Russian imperialism, for if I did—or we did— we would find that by the time we had liquidated British imperialism, we would have a greater and more horrible substitute on our hands...

...We must be free to hit—and hit hard-^Russia's behavior in the Baltic and Balkan states, without having Lamont or Lerner go into a tizzy over the-prospect of imminent hostilities...

...This line seems to come mostly from one or two over-heated commentators in Moscow—the same crowd that was calling us "appeasers" because we advocated last year the policy Russia is now pursuing in Germany—and a curious collection of Americans, including Tom Lamont, boss of J. P. Morgan & Co., the editors of the arch-Republican New York Herald-Tribune, and some of the fellow-traveling publications in New York...

...Your "only aim," you say, "is to indicate that, surely, what is sauce for the British goose is sauce for the Soviet gander...

...I think it is high time that the peddlers of this irresponsible chatter be made to realize that it is they— and nobody else—who are talking and thinking of war...

...When Russia stood alone among the great nations of the world in repudiating secret diplomacy and secret agreements, Progressives applauded her forthright stand, but today it is Russia which not only sanctions but actually demands total secrecy in international relations...

...Dear Mr...

...And the reverse, of course, must be true...

...The fact is, as you well know...

...Barnes, have not been the result of any change in our policy...

...Over this 3-year period, Mr...

...There isn't a charge you make against Britain in your letter—Britain's domination over the black and brown races, her cruel treatment of starving Indians, her imprisonment of Indian patriots, Churchill's lying to get us involved in war, and Churchill's smearing attacks on Russia—that hasn't appeared in The Progressive^—as articles and editorials, not once but many times during the past 5 years...

...Bottling up our respective grievances now can only result in a terrible explosion later...

...In actual practice in occupied Germany the Russians have been reverting to their original position of dealing sternly with proven Nazis and lending a helping hand to the other Germans...

...More power to her...

...our imperialistic designs on wealth in the Pacific and oil in the Middle East, the racial and religious intolerance in our own midst, the political corruption in our cities, and the exploitation of countless Americans by powerful corporate interests—all this in our own country has been under sharp and constant attack in The Progressive, certainly more sharply and more constantly than have the policies of the Soviet Union...

...You, Mr...

...The position of The Progressive remains the same...

...It was Russian policy which changed, now one way and now the other...

...that we can criticize and condemn the harsh policies of an imperial Britain, and rarely ~becalled anti-British...

...Let Russia criticize our relations with Puerto Rico or our treatment of s,ome of our...

...If our relations with Russia are in such a sickly, delicate state that they must be kept in a hothouse of artificial agreement and cannot stand honest, straight-from-the-shoulder criticisms, then indeed we shall not find peace in the drug of pretending that there is a healthy, friendly relationship...

...But 2 weeks or 2 months later, when the Kremlin ba:-ks down slightly, as it has on several occasions in the face of hostile world opinion, and makes a concession or two, this same crowd shouts, "See, didn't we tell you Moscow will listen to reason...

...Barnes: BEFORE coming to grips with your case against The Progressive's position toward the Soviet Union, I should like you to know how much I appreciate the spirit in which your letter was written...

...The position of The Progressive remains the same...

...The only way, as a Progressive, that I can play the game, Mr...

...I concur, too, in your parallel remark that "there are more unfree people under British rule than there are under the dominion of any other half-dozen states in the world today...

...But the fact of Britain's crime does not make it any easier for us to swallow the adoption of this imperial, repressive system by the Soviets...

...I'd say Amen again if it weren't for the fact that you seem to be implying that it's OK for the Russians to be imperialists as long as the British are...

...The position of The Progressive remains the same...

...OUR criticisms of Soviet policy in recent months, Mr...

...MUCH of your letter, Mr...

...Barnes, the Soviet policy underwent basic changes twice, but the policy of The Progressive^rooted in what we have felt were enduring principles, remained the same...

...Our "main guilt" and "the chief weakness" in our position on Russia, to use your own words, Mr...

...I don't believe in Russia's totalitarian system any more than I do in any form of dictatorship, but The Progressive has not and does not attack the internal workings of the Soviet Union because we feel strongly that the people of Russia have a right to work out their own destiny without interference from the outside world...

...The Progressive applauds—almost every week, in fact...

...You characterized Chamberlin as a "superb writer," who "is better informed and more rational and constructive than any other journalist specializing in world affairs," and then you made this telling comment: "Chamberlin should not be insulted by passionate partisans of Stalin, who surely are not without adequate literary caressing of their prejudices, with the Luce publications, the New York Post, PM, the Nation, the New Republic, and the Daily Worker at their disposal...

...I agree heartily with your statement that there is no more freedom in Russia than there was in Hitlerite Germany [except that the Soviets have done a superb job with race relations...

...The Progressive has attacked foreign policies of the United States and Great Britain with as much strength and zeal as it has foreign policies of Soviet Russia...

...If we're going to play a greater and more influential role in world affairs—as it seems clear we are—than we not only should but we must make our influence felt for democratic, anti-imperialistic ideals...

...are strong enough, healthy enough, and tough-minded enough to be able to slug it out, toe-to-toe, on terms of equality in any negotiations...

...My own conviction is that both the U. S. and the U.S.S.R...

...Barnes, is the fact that we "adopt the same unilateral policy" that we criticize Russia "so sharply for using in world politics...

...About a year ago, however, the Kremlin turned its propagandists loose with a bitter tirade against the "soft-peace" advocates in the United States who had the temerity to argue that there was a difference between the Nazis and the rest of the Germans...

...Some of our Government's policies toward Puerto Rico, toward our neighbors in South and Central America, Panama included...

...Barnes, Russia, And The Progressive By MORRIS H. RUBIN (Editor Of The Progressive) EDITOR'S NOTE: The comments below are by way of reply to Harry Elmer Barnes' letter on Page 6 of this issue...

...Churchill and Great Britain—an indictment whose counts are so true that they have already appeared in The Progressive, often with frontpage attention and display...

...That's why we fought for political recognition and economic credits for the Soviet Union when she needed both so urgently...

...Always your defense is simply that Britain has committed equal or greater sins against peace and freedom...

...When The Progressive denounces a Soviet policy which we feel is unjust, imperialistic, and war-provoking, Soviet sympathizers pour a stream of venomous criticism on The Progressive and its writers...

...Without exception, the critical letters launch into a personal tirade against the author—and the senders never do get around to citing a single error of fact in the article being denounced...

...This technique, embodying the very tactics which Adolf Hitler hailed in Mein Kampf—the big lie, the big smear, and the wholesale impugning of motives— turns up in dozens of anonymous and a few of the signed letters we get, along with a similarity of language that would be little short of uncanny if there weren't a simpler explanation...

...Barnes, that when the Kremlin does back down ever so slightly, it does so only because critics like The Progressive, and many, many others, have had the guts to stand up on their hind feet and demand a change in Soviet policy...

...Barnes, is dealing with Stalin's repudiation of his pledges, with the shocking Soviet arrest of the 16 Poles, with the Kremlin's harsh policies in the Baltic and Balkan states, and with Russia's ambitions for vast territorial aggrandizement...